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1st US congressional delegation in 14 years visits Eritrea
Source: Associated Press
1st US congressional delegation in 14 years visits Eritrea
By ELIAS MESERET
March 4, 2019
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A U.S. congressional delegation has visited Eritrea for the first time in 14 years as Washington seeks closer contact with the long-reclusive state in the Horn of Africa after it made surprising peace with Ethiopia last year.
“Eritrea has been a mystery,” Karen Bass told reporters in Ethiopia on Monday after visiting Asmara with fellow lawmakers Ilhan Omar and Joe Neguse, whose parents fled Eritrea in the early 1980s as it fought for independence. “I know that there have been no reforms that have taken place yet but this is very new. I’m hopeful that reforms will take place, most notably in the area of human rights.”
Bass, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, said she hopes that several U.S. nationals detained in Eritrea, including four U.S. Embassy staff, will be released “promptly, as well as other people who are incarcerated.” She said she learned only on Monday that a U.S. national from her own California district was in detention.
Eritrea’s information minister in a Twitter post said the lawmakers met the foreign minister, presidential adviser and head of economic development. He posted a photo of the lawmakers in front of a framed photo of longtime President Isaias Afwerki, who on Sunday hosted the leaders of Ethiopia and Kenya.
-snip-
By ELIAS MESERET
March 4, 2019
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — A U.S. congressional delegation has visited Eritrea for the first time in 14 years as Washington seeks closer contact with the long-reclusive state in the Horn of Africa after it made surprising peace with Ethiopia last year.
“Eritrea has been a mystery,” Karen Bass told reporters in Ethiopia on Monday after visiting Asmara with fellow lawmakers Ilhan Omar and Joe Neguse, whose parents fled Eritrea in the early 1980s as it fought for independence. “I know that there have been no reforms that have taken place yet but this is very new. I’m hopeful that reforms will take place, most notably in the area of human rights.”
Bass, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, said she hopes that several U.S. nationals detained in Eritrea, including four U.S. Embassy staff, will be released “promptly, as well as other people who are incarcerated.” She said she learned only on Monday that a U.S. national from her own California district was in detention.
Eritrea’s information minister in a Twitter post said the lawmakers met the foreign minister, presidential adviser and head of economic development. He posted a photo of the lawmakers in front of a framed photo of longtime President Isaias Afwerki, who on Sunday hosted the leaders of Ethiopia and Kenya.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/2234acda2a1e4b1092182ec574bb8128
